Disclaimer: As usual, no copyright intended. The series belong to J.K. Rowling. The fanfic is all I own.
Ch. 10
The Daily Prophet Of Doom
After their walk, Harry, Ginny and Neville headed back to the castle, since Fred, George and Lee want to throw a party to celebrate Harry's completing the first task, with some help from Professor McGonagall, who secured a fifth floor unused classroom for the party. Fred, George and Lee opted to keep the door open (but they cast a certain spell or two around the doorway). Harry, Ginny and Neville made it just as Lee was putting up some crepe paper streamer.
"There you are," said Lee as he spotted the three. "You're all thirty minutes early though, but what the heck!" This caught Fred and George's attention.
"Welcome, you three!" said Fred.
"Would you like some help?" offered Harry.
"Nah, but if you want to," said George. "The more help, the faster the party can start."
So Harry, Ginny and Neville started helping Fred, George and Lee. With fifteen minutes to spare, Harry decided to write down a list of guests to have invitations delivered to. Just then, Dobby and Winky appear with a crack, with Dobby handing Harry a letter.
"Here's your letter, Harry Potter!" said Dobby.
"Thanks Dobby," said Harry as he grabbed his letter and pocketed it.
He got the envelopes with the invitations and handed Dobby and Winky a stack of them.
"Dobby, this stack of invitations here, four are for certain Beauxbatons students," stated Harry. "Their names are Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour, and the other two are their best friends, Kassidy and Kassandra Kraymor. And the fifth one here is for the Durmstrang champion, Viktor Krum."
"Yes sir, Dobby will make sure they get their invitations!" said Dobby as he vanished to get his errand taken care of. Then Harry turned to Winky.
"Winky," Harry continued. "These invitations here are for Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor student, Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff, two Ravenclaw students, Cho Chang and Luna Lovegood, and two Slytherin students, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass."
"Winky will get to this right away Harry Potter." said Winky as she vanished to get the invitations taken care of.
Harry created a second copy of the guest list to hand to Lee, who offered to help Harry keep an eye of the doorway by standing outside of it, to make sure no uninvited guests could come in. Professor McGonagall came by to check the classroom out, but faced Harry and Lee first.
"How will you keep uninvited guests out of here?" asked Professor McGonagall.
"Fred, George and I have a trick up our sleeves." said Lee.
"I must check it out for myself," said Professor McGonagall.
"Don't worry professor," assured Lee. "It's not a harmful spell or charm. It's just going to be enough to keep unwanted guests at bay."
Professor McGonagall nodded in understanding and walked in. Soon after, the party guests who were invited start making their way to the unused classroom. Harry and Lee stood by the doorway outside the classroom, making sure that no uninvited guests would come and likely cause trouble, particularly Ron and Hermione, as well as their group of tormentors. Inevitably, Ron and Hermione found out about the party, and decided to "confront" Harry once more. Ron and Hermione made it to the fifth floor unused classroom, shooting Harry a venomous glare when they arrived.
"What are you doing here?" asked Harry, who wasn't in the mood for their behaviour.
"I want an explanation for excluding us!" demanded Ron.
"And so do I!" said Hermione angrily.
"You didn't deserve an invitation," stated Harry. "Because of the way you've been treating me since Halloween."
"Fine," said Ron and Hermione with clear hatred in their voices. "We'll show you what happens when attention seekers and liars like you don't have any more decency to invite their friends, and certainly for those who won't admit the truth!"
They started marching toward Harry, while Lee, Professor McGonagall and the twins watched. As soon as Ron and Hermione got close enough, they heard some kind of high-pitch noise that got louder the closer they were to the door.
"Ahhh!" said Ron, rubbing his ears.
"Owww!" said Hermione, rubbing her ears as well.
They attempted to try their stunt again, only for the high-pitched noise to come back.
"What was that noise?" asked Ron and Hermione irritably.
"What noise?" asked Harry, Lee, Fred and George. "We don't know what you're talking about!"
Ron and Hermione growled in frustration.
"Fine," they said. "You'll be sorry Potter! Mark our words!"
So Ron and Hermione left to warn their group of tormentors not to try to crash the party. Professor McGonagall was surprisingly amused.
"What kind of charm was that?" she asked Fred and George.
"It's a high-pitch noise charm," they explained. "If unwanted guests get too close to a specified person or area, the charm activates and makes the high-pitch noise get louder if they continue to proceed."
"Oh okay." said Professor McGonagall in understanding.
"We figured something like that would happen," said Fred. "So George and myself cast that charm, to ensure that there wouldn't be any trouble."
The invited guests started arriving one by one, with Cedric and Cho arriving first. Harry would scribble a check-mark next the name of the guests who have arrived. Neville left and came back some minutes later, escorting Luna to the party. Harry smiled, wondering if there was a possibility that Neville and Luna were becoming romantically involved. Viktor Krum arrived shortly after, followed by the Greengrass sisters, as well as Dean. The last to arrive were Fleur, Gabby, Kassidy and Kassandra. Gabby just gave Harry a great, big hug, with Harry returning that with one himself, which caught Lee's attention.
"Well, let's get the party started!" said Harry enthusiastically.
"Alright!" said Lee with excitement.
Harry was walking around the classroom, making sure everybody was having a great time.
"Hey Harry, would you like to dance?" offered Gabby when Harry walked by her, Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra.
"Uhhh..." said Harry nervously. "I don't know how to dance."
"I can teach you if you want!" Gabrielle offered again.
"Well, okay," said Harry. "But don't blame me if I accidentally step on your toes."
So Harry started practicing his dancing, Fleur opted to watch it, to see if Harry was getting better. After five tries, with Harry having accidentally stepped on Gabby's toes twice, he finally got it. Professor McGonagall was watching it as well, with a rare smile as she was relieved that Harry was having a good time.
Meanwhile, Draco and Pansy made their way to the classroom, hoping to crash it. Upon spotting the Greengrass sisters inside the classroom, they angrily attempted to walk in, only to experience the charm Ron and Hermione dealt with.
"Dang, Professor McGonagall is in there!" noticed Pansy.
"Yeah, let's leave before we get in trouble!" said Draco.
So they reluctantly left. Harry managed to get better at dancing, with Gabby and Fleur's help. Harry also got to dance with Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra. Even the Greengrass sisters got to dance with Harry some. Harry also spotted Neville holding his hand out to Luna and offering her to dance with him, which she accepted. Viktor happened to be dancing with Ginny, which Fred and George were witnessing.
"How cool is that?" they asked each other.
Once Viktor finished dancing with Ginny, she went to dance with Harry a little bit. Soon, the party was coming to an end, with the last thing to have Harry open his golden egg to work out the clue for the second task. Harry opened it, only for intense wailing to be heard, forcing Harry to close it back up. The guests all said goodnight to one another before leaving, with Gabby giving Harry another great, big hug, and Harry giving her one, too.
"Hey Harry," said Neville. "Great job at the first task once more. Your flying skills just keep getting better."
"Thanks Neville!" said Harry.
"Well, while Luna and I were dancing," said Neville. "I asked her to be my girlfriend."
"And I gladly accepted," said Luna excitedly. "He earned it, for defending my honour!"
"Congratulations Neville!" said Harry.
"Thanks Harry!" said Neville. "I'm gonna escort Luna back to the Ravenclaw common room."
"Okay," said Harry. "Goodnight you two."
"Goodnight Harry." said Neville and Luna before walking to the Ravenclaw common room. So Harry went back to his unused classroom, so he could read the letter from Sirius.
When Harry got to his unused classroom, he saw Hedwig, tapping her beak on the window. So Harry opened it to let Hedwig in.
"Hey girl." said Harry affectionately and stroking her.
Hedwig held her leg out, with a letter tied to it. Harry untied it and gave Hedwig some owl treats, and then Hedwig flew back to the owlery. He opened the letter from Sirius first, and it read:
Dear Harry
Great job on getting past that's amazing that you're in first place. That was a great idea to send those house-elves my way. Hopefully, with that strategy, everything will cool down a bit to where Hedwig can start delivering the letters. Stay safe and make sure you stay prepared for the next two tasks.
From,
Padfoot
Harry put his letter from Sirius into his trunk, and opened the letter Hedwig brought, which turned out to be from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, which read:
Hi Harry,
Great job with completing the first task. Fred, George and Ginny have also been keeping us notified on what's been going on. We are disappointed in Ron for turning his back on you. We also find it hard to believe that Hermione did so as well. We certainly didn't raise Ron this way, and we don't think Hermione's parents raised her this way either. We have sent a letter to Ron, advising him to quit this behaviour of his. We already know he and Hermione have caused large house point deductions, as well as six weeks total of detention. If Ron does cause further problems, don't hesitate to inform us. Ron needs to get over his jealousy and realize that actions have consequences.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley
After reading the letter, Harry relaxed a bit. He put the letter from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley into his trunk, then got ready for bed. He took his glasses off and placed them on the nightstand and went to sleep.
Harry got up around 6 AM. He decided to eat his breakfast alone, believing that Ron and Hermione were going to cause further problems in the Great Hall.
"Dobby, Winky!" Harry called. The house-elves appeared.
"What does Harry Potter request?" they asked.
"Some breakfast please," said Harry. "Ron and Hermione were angry at me for not inviting them to that party last night, even though they didn't deserve it."
"We will get you your breakfast, Harry Potter." assured Dobby and Winky.
So they vanished back to the kitchens to prepare Harry's breakfast. Meanwhile, students were starting to file into the Great Hall for breakfast. Fred, George, Ginny, Neville and Dean took their seats and started eating.
"I'm guessing Harry isn't here because of Ron and Hermione." said Ginny.
"Yeah," said Lee. "They claimed Harry would be sorry for excluding them from the party."
"But they didn't deserve an invitation." said Fred.
"Yeah, they got mad for no reason, but they're too delusional." stated George.
After breakfast was over, the six Gryffindors were walking outside, until Ron and Hermione stopped them.
"How do you explain this?" Ron asked Ginny, holding a copy of the Daily Prophet and handing it to her. The news article was:
Harry Potter: The-Boy-Who-Toys-With-Affections
By Rita Skeeter
Harry Potter, also known as The-Boy-Who-Lived, was caught hugging and kissing a young red-haired lady by the name of Ginevra Weasley, daughter of Arthur Weasley, who is the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Ginevra was so worried that she came into the champions tent to give Harry a hug and kiss, indicating that they are a couple. Harry and Ginevra declined comment, claiming that they had none. It looks as though Harry wasn't willing to admit to dating young Ginevra, who was so happy that she hopes to marry the boy who lived and live happily ever after. This has made quite a bit of girls jealous. No official word has been reported as to what her brother, Ronald has to say about this.
We spoke with a few Hogwarts students about this. Pansy Parkinson, a fourth year Slytherin, stated that Harry Potter will do anything to win the affections of any girl he can. Draco Malfoy, also a fourth year Slytherin, has stated that Harry tends to go after girls out of his league, as proven when Ginevra, an ugly red-haired girl, was caught making love to Harry before the first task. Pansy Parkinson, a pretty brown-haired girl, has also added that since Harry has cheated his way into the tournament, he just wants all the fame and glory for his own selfish needs. Susan Bones, daughter of Amelia Bones of the DMLE, has also mentioned that she and her best friend, Hannah Abbott, have tried to get Harry to admit that he was lying and was trying to take the glory away from Cedric Diggory, son of Amos Diggory. More on this as it develops.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" said Ginny with heavy nervousness.
She then buried her face into her hands, shaking her head back and forth. She was highly embarrassed by the article, as she was never dating Harry.
"WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?" shouted Ron and Hermione, outraged.
"I was never d-d-d-dating H-H-Harry." Ginny nervously replied, trying to defend herself.
"You shouldn't believe what Rita writes..." said Fred.
"SHUT UP!" yelled Ron. "Potter has crossed the line. I warned him to STAY AWAY FROM GINNY!"
"Oh grow up, Ron." said George angrily. "I'll bet you also spoke with Rita!"
"What!" exclaimed Ron. "No, I haven't!"
Meanwhile, Harry made it outside, contemplating on possibly visiting Hagrid, only for a spell to hit him on his feet, making him trip.
"Well, well," said the sneering voice of Draco Malfoy. "Look who decided to walk by!"
"Yeah," said Pansy sneeringly. "Looks like you have a little talk with Ron Weasley in a couple minutes. Let's pick Harry up and escort him over to where Ron and Hermione are!"
Harry could see the rest of Ron and Hermione's group, making him gulp, as there was no way he could escape and certainly no way he could fight back (since there were so many of his tormentors surrounding him. Susan and Hannah helped Draco and Pansy with picking Harry up to his feet.
"You are to follow us and the group!" Draco insisted.
Harry couldn't say anything, too terrified to speak, not knowing what all that was about. Harry started getting more and more terrified as soon as they got closer and closer to where Ron and Hermione were, and when they made it there, Harry gulped harder.
"Here he is, Ron!" said Draco.
Ron came up to Harry, grabbed him by his shirt collar and dragged him over to a corner. Harry had never seen Ron as angry as he was now.
"How do you explain this?" asked Ron with pure rage, holding up the article of the Daily Prophet.
"I'm not dating Ginny." stated Harry.
"Didn't I WARN You to stay away from Ginny?" asked Ron, ignoring Harry.
"You don't the right to forbid me from..." Harry began saying.
"That's enough, Potter," snapped Hermione. "You know that Ron forbade you from being anywhere near his family!"
"I was never dating Ginny. You mustn't believe what that Skeeter woman wrote." said Harry.
"I ain't gonna be fooled by that," said Ron. "Now stay away from Ginny, and I...MEAN...IT!"
"AND SO DO I!" bellowed Hermione. Ron moved to the side, allowing Draco to approach Harry.
"Here's the penalty for being a liar, manipulator, an attention seeker, and a FILTHY PRAT!" Draco said. He raised his wand at Harry to perform a curse at him, but then...
All of a sudden, Draco seemingly disappeared. Harry then saw a white ferret where Draco had been, somehow bouncing up and down. It turned out to be Professor Moody, who (with his wand pointed at the Malfoy scion) transfigured Draco into a ferret.
"That... is... despicable behaviour!" said Professor Moody as he continued bouncing ferret Draco up and down, and moved him towards Ron, making the ferret go up his shirt sleeve.
Ron started shrieking a bit, until the ferret fell out. Ron and most of his group disbanded to avoid more reprisals. Harry and those who supported him were amused. Professor McGonagall came by.
"Professor Moody," she said. "Is... is that a student?"
"Technically, it's a ferret!" said Professor Moody.
Professor McGonagall points her wand at the ferret, silently using 'finite incantatem,' to see if the ferret was really a student. As soon as Draco returned to normal, he got up and looked around, wondering who did that to him, humiliated. Draco then turned around and spotted Professor Moody, realizing he did that.
"My father will hear about this!" he declared. But a spell hit Draco, stopping him in his tracks.
"Your daddy is gonna be no help." said Professor Moody.
"Alastor," said Professor McGonagall sternly. "We never use transfiguration as a punishment. Surely Dumbledore told you that?"
"He might've mentioned it." said Professor Moody while rubbing his chin.
"You will do well to remember that!" stated Professor McGonagall firmly.
"I could've taught young Malfoy here a lesson that..." said Professor Moody.
"Look, we give detentions Moody," stated Professor McGonagall. "Or we take points away from the offender's house, and/or we speak to the offender's head of house."
"I'll do that then," said Professor Moody, and faced Draco. "That'll be fifty points from Slytherin. I've also been looking forward to a little chat with Severus. Come on you."
Professor Moody grabbed Draco by the shirt collar and dragged him toward Professor Snape's office. Professor McGonagall walked away, as soon as she was gone, Pansy shot Harry a venomous glare before walking away.
(Meanwhile, at the Beauxbatons carriage)
Gabby was brushing a pegasus when a classmate approached.
"See Gabby," said her classmate, holding up a newspaper. "This is why Harry Potter is bad news."
Gabby looked at the Daily Prophet article, mentioning Harry's supposed relationship with Ginny Weasley. This made Gabby gasp, believing that she now had competition. So she ran inside the carriage to her and Fleur's room, casting a silence charm on the door.
"She'll eventually realize that Harry Potter is an attention seeker." said another Beauxbatons student.
Meanwhile, Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra came back into the carriage after finishing their walk, heading for Fleur and Gabby's room. Fleur opened the door, unwittingly ending the silence charm around the door, and witnessed Gabby crying.
"Gabby, what's wrong?" asked Fleur.
"This newspaper..." Gabby tearfully replied, holding the newspaper article up.
Fleur took it and read the article, furious that Rita had written a lie, yet again.
"Gabby, don't believe the article," said Fleur. "Harry isn't dating Ginny."
"Really?" asked Gabby with some relief in her voice, while sniffling.
"Yeah," assured Fleur. "Rita Skeeter writes a bunch of lies. Harry even told me that he's not dating Ginny."
"Oh okay," said Gabby, calming down. "I was worried that I have competition."
"Don't let that article get to you," said Kassidy. "Yeah, anything that Skeeter lady writes is a lie."
Gabby relaxed even more, so she, Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra headed to the Hogwarts Great Hall for lunch.
More chapters coming your way!